The 10 Most Shopaholic Cities In The U.S.

Update: This slideshow originally showed cities number 11 to 25 in the list of top spenders, and now shows the top 10. Click here to see numbers 11 to 25.

If there’s one thing Americans know how to do, it’s spend money.

U.S. consumer spending increased by 0.6 per cent in September, and with the holidays quickly approaching, Americans are expected to spend $465.6 billion in holiday retail sales, a 2.8 per cent gain over last year.

See the top 10 most shopaholic cities in America by average monthly spending →
We’re a nation of shopaholics, with Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw (obsessed with shoes and designer labels) and How I Met Your Mother’s Barney Stinson (obsessed with suits and luxury goods) representing on our television sets what two of America’s estimated 18 million shopaholics might look like in real life.

So where do all these shopaholics live? We looked at the top 100 cities in the U.S. by population to see which cities have households spending the most on clothes, shoes and other wear.

The spending data, which comes from the US. government, from anonymous and aggregated spending transactions from Citi, and third party data providers, was tracked for a full year from March 2010 to March 2011. Cities were then ranked by highest average monthly spending.

The most shopaholic city: Washington D.C., our nation’s capital. Travel guide Fodor’s says that the number of designer boutiques in the city is on the rise, and tourists can’t resist picking up a few souvenirs when visiting the place where our nation’s laws are passed, including African-inspired clothing, accessories, and art.

And as we all know, D.C. is a metro area run by people in suits, and suits aren’t cheap, especially if they’re designer. And you can bet on seeing very fine suits in Congress — half of our leaders in Congress are millionaires.

2. Arlington, Virginia: where residents spend an average of $254.58 every month

1. Washington D.C.: where residents spend an average of $263 every month

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